


Making Ends Meet

by ImperfectOrphanage



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 14:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8848957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperfectOrphanage/pseuds/ImperfectOrphanage
Summary: A side ficlet to the "Loose Ends" series.
Joshua and Neku explore what could have been if they weren't Composer and Conductor.
Also, Joshua loves to tease Neku about how he can choose what form he takes.





	

“I really, really hate you.”

“Oh, Neku, you don’t mean that,” Joshua quipped. He was casually leaned back on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other. “It wouldn’t be hard. I would do most of the work.”

Neku glared at Joshua with the fire of a thousand suns. He knew the guy was weird but this was a new low. “You. Are. Not. Having. My. Baby.”

Joshua pouted. “I suppose you’d want to get married first?”

“I fucking hate you, Joshua. I really fucking do.”

The Composer laughed. “C’mon, Neku. I can take any form I wish.”

Neku folded his arms and stood at least six feet away. “So you choose to be a total asshole wrapped up in a prissy blonde kid?”

“I was a prissy blonde kid,” he replied, waving his hand through the air theatrically. “However, if you want me to be a female, I can be. If you want me to be older or younger, its quite alright.”

“Absolutely not. I can’t even have sex with you yet.”

Joshua gave him a heavy lidded gaze. “Oh, Neku, I wouldn’t need you to have sex with me.”

“Can-“ He swallowed hard. “Can a dead guy even HAVE a child?”

“Hm, I’m not sure,” Joshua tapped a finger to his chin, “but it would be fun to learn.”

Neku wanted to bang his head against the wall until he lost consciousness. Either that, or bang Joshua’s head against the floor until HE lost consciousness. And then Neku would run far away.

“I wonder,” Joshua mused, “what we would call it? If it’s a girl, we could call it Atsume. If it was a boy we could call it Shiro. After your father, of course.”

“Did I say I hated you? Because I do.”

Another giggle. Joshua patted his flat stomach. “Don’t you want to be a father?”

“I am fifteen years old.”

“Sixteen, remember?”

“Shit. I forgot. It’s kinda hard to remember birthdays when you’re dead.”

Joshua exhaled. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the sofa. “Did you ever want to have a family while you were alive?”

“I didn’t think about it, much,” Neku frowned. He inched closer to the sofa and when Joshua didn’t try anything stupid, he sat down. “My dad wasn’t around and my mom, well, you know.”

Lavender eyes opened. “My mother died of cancer and my father might as well have been dead.”

Neku scooted closer. Joshua didn’t talk about his family often.

“I never thought about the future. When you have one foot in the world of the dead and one foot in the world of the living, the future isn’t something to look forward to.”

“You,” he paused for a second. Joshua shifted his gaze toward him. “You killed yourself because you didn’t think you had a future?”

Joshua smiled and slid his eyes closed once more. “My future was never intended to be spent in the RealGround of Shibuya. I’m much happier here with you than I would have been as an overworked business man with three children and a wife to support.”

“Three?” Neku knew the way Joshua had worded it, meant he had at least thought about it once. “Why would you want three?”

“Indeed,” Joshua whispered. “Why would I want three?”

Neku scooted even closer to Joshua’s side. His hips brushed against Joshua’s and the Composer’s arm moved to curl around Neku’s shoulders.

“How many for you?” Joshua asked, his head resting against Neku’s.

“I dunno. Maybe one? I don’t see myself as a father,” he laughed nervously. “Yeah, I just don’t.”

Joshua turned his head to nuzzle Neku’s ear. “I don’t see it either. You’re not very patient and children require a lot of patience.”

“Sounds like you had siblings.”

His eyes fluttered open. “Not exactly. They were more of an adopted family.”

Neku hummed in response and tilted his head toward Joshua. “Have you seen them since?”

“Four were in the Game.” Joshua slid his lips over Neku’s throat and began to suck on the skin. He paused in the middle to whisper. “They did not make it.”

“I’m sorry,” Neku half-gasped, half-whispered. “It sucks to lose someone.”

Joshua said nothing as he placed one leg over Neku’s lap. He shifted on the couch to straddle Neku and his hands reached up to cup Neku’s face. “I have you.”

“Yeah, you do.” Neku smiled, and he continued to smile as Joshua parted his lips with a gentle slip of the tongue.

It was always nice to kiss. It filled Neku with happiness and he felt the strum of Joshua’s music sing in time to his own. The kisses were gentle and loving, and Neku pressed his mouth softly against Joshua.

“I love you, Neku. I will always love you,” Joshua sighed, the words falling onto Neku’s lips with a warm, wet breath. “Would you like to get married?”

Neku traced the line of Joshua’s jaw with one finger. “The only reason you want to get married is because you get to wear a dress.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Joshua giggled.

“You’re insufferable.” Neku silenced whatever response the Composer would have had with a deep and meaningful kiss. “And I’m not buying you a ring.”

Joshua laughed into Neku’s mouth.

The conversation was delayed for several hours afterward, and that, was just fine to Neku.


End file.
